Here is a lamp I used for camping in the 1970s not sure where it came from, but it was pretty tatty then, I gave it a coat of household black paint and put some silver oxide paint on the frame and hood. I was tempted to leave it that way to remind me of those happy days, but I thought after years of good service it deserves a bit of a tidy up. Hood was Brown originally but I found a tidy black one and painted the frame with brake caliper paint, (not finished yet) No idea of the date and it's not stamped But here are a couple of things I noticed 1 the pump knob is black plastic, never gave this a thought before should it be on this lamp? 2 the burner has a taller dome than most others I have seen, with screw type air tubes is this a wrong one? It always burned nice and bright. The restoration is being done to preserve it for use on summer evenings, so this may not be one for the purists, but nice to tidy up an friend, and hopefully keep it in service.
Your lantern is from early 1950's and it is all period correct, Guardsman lanterns often turn up with that black plastic knob on the pump.
Thanks for that Jeff That's good to know, this will never be a top collectors item, but nice to think it's pretty much as it should be (except the hood) I am going to leave it a couple of weeks before lighting it to be sure the paint has hardened.
Those are well built and reliable lanterns and they work well when they are properly maintained, the glass which is in your lantern is a later one. but it's fine. I would reset the control cock, in my opinion, that outer ring which the control cock screws into, should be screwed further into the tank orifice.
I'll check that out, I intend to re coat the cage one more time, and to paint the tube nuts on the bottom of the frame with gold enamel, so I'll do it then, glass must have been replaced before my time, seems to a pity than no one makes the brown enamel hoods for these old ones.
It is what it is - a good working lamp. With a story. Nothing wrong with that. Orphaned brown hoods do turn up from time to time in need of a purpose
After tidying up my old friend I put it on a shelf for a while, but yesterday decided to give it a go. Now before I stripped it down I lit it with the old paraffin left in it for many years, it burned very well and I was pleased, yesterday I heated and quenched the vaporiser several times then tried to light. It and it wouldn't run correctly, it burned with an orange flame and made black patches on the mantle, I tried a different burner and it was the same, used a different vaporiser still no luck, I then noticed the dome of the burner was glowing red so I assume it was burning inside. Bit frustrating considering that it was fine and bright before I "improved" it, I need to spend some time trying to work out why it's doing this.
Well the pictured burner does not look worn out, but maybe the bit under the dome is rusted/perforated (I seem to recall it is steel) as I can see evidence of water (verdigris) Maybe try a third vapouriser ? Sometimes these "tailchasers" are intriguing...
The jets on your vapourisers may be enlarged and the mixing tube which is located inside the mixing dome of the burner may have loosened or some other part of your burners may be loose and burners do wear out.
@Fireexit1 , almost. It's the dome that is the mixing tube (part no. 211). The part you're referring to is the injector tube (part no. 212).
Tried again today, the original burner was the tall type with the screw bushes to retain it in the hood, but it had seen some very hard service, gave it a bit of a clean up and fitted a mantle and Tried again (meths supply is going down). It fired up pretty well then went quite dim, I flicked the stop cock a few times and managed to get it burning although not bright and some halo around the mantle so I left it for an hour or so, it seemed to settle down a bit, but I had to go out so I shut it down. Not wanting to let it go I Tried again later, it lit up much brighter and was more like the lamp I remembered, but after about 2 minutes it went dim a d the burner dome was glowing Red. Logically as it did the same thing with 3 different burners it is looking like the vaporiser is chief suspect, even though I quenched it and blasted it out with compressed air. Will try a new round of quenching to see if it can be improved.
You may have to bite the bullet an fit a new vap as the jet might be enlarged, hope you get it working properly, Ian
Thanks Ian @Mr cod I am thinking that will probably be the only solution, odd thing was before I cleaned it all up I lit it and it was really good and bright, even with very old paraffin. Maybe being Choked up compensated for the enlarged jet, and cleaning it out upset the balance. I gave the vaporiser a soak in my wheel cleaner bath tonight and I'll try to clean it again, but I think that's the last chance saloon. As mentioned in other threads new vaporisers are becoming rare and not all are actually as advertised.
